I made it to Chachoengsao!

I made it to Chachoengsao!

It’s funny how one week of orientation in Bangkok flew by so quickly, yet I feel like I’ve been in Thailand for quite a while. I was quite impressed with how orientation ran and some of the cool activities that they planned for us.

I met a ton of new people. It was definitely weird being surrounded by completely new faces, coming from a place where I was constantly surrounded by good friends. By the time orientation was over I was surprisingly sad to say goodbye to the friends that I had made in such a short time, and wished them good luck as we all spread out over the country into our respective cities.

Me right in front of the
entrance to the temple

Just a quick recap of some cool trips over orientation:

1- The Grand Palace/ The Temple of the Emerald Buddha

This place is just absolutely magnificent. I was blown away by all the buildings and structures surrounding the temple and the palace and the intricate details on every single piece of the structure. I mean the columns alone had the most detailed designs.

Inside the gates of the Grand Palace/
Temple of the Emerald Buddha

Such intricate architechture!

2- Traditional Thai puppet show

When you think puppet show, you may not be so impressed, but this was one of the coolest theatrical performances I have ever scene. There were three dancers/performers to every puppet- that’s how complex these puppets. The choreography, scenery and music were all great.

The Bride over the River Kwaai

3- The bridge over the River Kwaai (Kwaii means water buffalo in Thai)

Yes, this is the same bridge that was in the movie. This famous bridge, with train tracks along it, is still in use and we had to jump out on the platforms as to not get run over by the oncoming train.

The bridge..again

Me on the bridge

4- Elephant trekking and bamboo rafting! (In Konchonoburi)

This was by far my favorite! We paired up on started on a bench on the back of an elephant, while a guide was on the neck. Our guide even stopped to get some leaves and flowers and made us some interesting jungle hats to wear! He then hopped off and gave us a turn to ride on the neck. I eagerly jumped on the neck only to realize that our elephant started to wade in the water and thought it would be funny to take his trunk and splash us! Afterwards we floated down a nearby stream on these rafts made completely out of bamboo.

Elephant!

After hours of teacher training, basic Thai language classes, heading to Konchonoburi and back, we finally met our school coordinators and took the van and headed south to Chachoengsao, where I currently am typing away in my new residence.

I’ll post soon some more details about my town and school, but I’m off to bed now, because we don’t start teaching until Wednesday. So tomorrow, off to the Chonburi beach!